Lighthearted, useless laughter
by PaperThinWalls
Summary: With an unanticipated diagnosis of cancer, Bulma is faced with a difficult decision of what to do and just who to confront first. Will it be her lover, or best friend? Warning: lemon in later chapters.


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Authors note: Well I had originally wrote this around Mothers Day but then decided to tweak the editing a bit which is why it's a little more than late. As a warning I'd just like to say there is some truth to what I'm writing in regard to my life here- and I'd appreciate it if it is read with caution and understanding. I'll tell you right now if you're just looking at this for the Lemon, I recommend you leave. There is a lot more meaning to this than the simple prospect of sex and if you can't value that, then I'm sorry. Enough of my rambling though; hope you all enjoy this. The pairing will be Vegeta/Bulma though it will also include a good amount of Goku/Bulma too.

In loving memory of Carolyn Mele.

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Awkward,

Tongue-tied,

Silence.

It plagued the hospital walls; relentlessly thriving off the apprehensive diseased sitting rigid in the waiting room. An opening of doors, paper scratching against a clipboard, and the wave indication of a pale looking nurse- all signs to which gave the immediate signal "the doctor would see her now."

"Bone cancers form in the cells that make hard bone tissue," said a general practitioner while offering a seat to his unmistakable patient.

Upon entering the room, the blue haired women nodded understandably and took to the chair graciously. She managed a forced half smile as she waited for the doctor to continue, though it was obvious she did not want to be there. And who could blame her? After all, a day filled with x-rays and bone scans were not something to be thrilled about.

"As I'm sure you already know Mrs. Briefs-" he paused a moment to clear his throat, "given your level of comprehension I mean. Primary bone cancer- cancer that actually starts in bone tissue is relatively rare. While it can occur at any age, the most common types develop in children and young adults."

Bulma had to hold back laughing. She felt like she was on trial. The edginess and apprehension which stressed her thoughts reminded her of a judge prolonging his final verdict. And she was guilty.

'So this is it…' she thought, blinking back the slowly forming tears.

"Though bone cancer can occur in any of the bones of the body, it most often forms in the long bones of the arms and legs." Bulma was convinced that he was straining the truth just for kicks now. She then pictured her Vegeta, ki-blasting the man to smithereens to which she instantly smirked.

Cautiously thinking about how to word his next sentence, the doctor shifted his body uncomfortably within the chair. Fidgeting his thumbs he opened his mouth again, this time to finally inform the bad news.

"Bulma, it brings me immense grief to say but…" His voice was cruel; lacking any sign of concern or compassion.

"But the testing proved positive again," she finished for him. "Oh- and its Mrs. Briefs, thank you very much."

Taken by surprise, the man had no choice but to move his neck up and down, signaling a 'yes.'

Regaining some self-control, Bulma flattened out her red dress evenly and moved a few blue locks behind her ears. "How… how long do I have?" she questioned lightly.

"Not long I'm afraid," he responded running a hand through his greasy black hair. "Two months- four at most. That is if you're willing to give another shot at the chemo."

"No… no more treatments," she stated emotionlessly before getting up from the chair so nicely offered to her before. "Thank you for your time Mr. Hibachi."

Taking her quick leave from the office, Bulma struggled with every nerve in her body not to start crying until reaching the privacy of her car; though of course it was not a rare sight to see someone shed a few tears upon leaving a hospital. In-fact, while returning to the parking lot, she noticed an elderly couple weeping together as well as a very young pregnant woman sobbing into a handkerchief.

"So much unnecessary pain…" Bulma muttered out into the afternoon sky, lighting up a freshly wrapped cigarette in the process. Without delay she then followed with opening a capsule to reveal a turquoise blue corvette; ignited the engine and sped off onto the main road.

A teardrop that fell from her eye was soon followed by many other teardrops until they all overflowed like rain. Wracking with sobs and cries of hopelessness, Bulma felt as though a thousand knives had stabbed into her. And she was too numb from pain to even flinch. Completely blasting her sound system and screaming as loudly as her lungs could manage, the woman's thoughts wandered back to her foundation diagnosis; trying to speculate what exactly went wrong.

Two months ago she had found out through her annual check-up that she had been spontaneously hit with Osteosarcoma. When working to eliminate bone tumors, surgeons remove some of the surrounding bone and muscle to be sure that they are removing as much cancerous tissue as possible. So a month afterwards, she then had gone into operation where the surgeons attempted to remove the bone cancer itself. In Bulma's case however, the actual bone was replaced with bone from an additional part of her body; other words- a transplant. But with the recent informing of previous news from her doctor, the surgery had apparently done nothing to help. Something she had feared would happen.

Incoherently mumbling a few more cuss words, Bulma sucked into her 'liberation' as she allowed the smoke to deliciously burn her lungs. Dialing a set of calculated numbers on her cell phone, she waited anxiously for a voice -any voice- to respond with a nice hello. In spite of everything consequent her long day of disappointment; some sort of warmhearted greeting was what Bulma needed right now.

The ring-tone quickly faded out only to be replaced with a sharp snap from a woman Bulma could instantly recognize. "Son residence," the voice confirmed, as the sounds of immense cooking in the background boomed with the clinking of pots and pans.

"Chi-chi, hi, is Goku there?" You could tell she was more interested in talking to her actual friend rather than his wife. Ever since the raven haired woman had gotten drunk during one of Capsule Corp's parties only to reveal a good amount of nasty little insults towards Bulma; things were never quite the same between them.

"Oh, its _you_," a hint of irritation implied distastefully. "He's not here right now, can I take a message?"

It wasn't long before Chi-chi's lie was exposed. And all thanks to the affectionate and satisfying sound of Goku's cheerful voice which could be heard questioning who it was that called.

Bulma allowed herself to snicker lightly into the phone, "You were saying?"

Gritting her teeth, Chi-chi shoved the handset to her husband and stormed off, followed with the slamming of a door. Clueless as always, Goku overlooked what had offended his wife and put an ear up to the speaker.

"Hey there Goku," his childhood friend replied sweetly.

"B-Chan! Haven't heard from you in awhile! So how's everything? Trunk okay? What about Vegeta?

"Please Goku, one question at a time," she joked; glad to have gotten out some laughter with all this pent up tension building up little by little inside her.

"Sorry, I just don't hear enough of you anymore. I know were both busy with our own lives, but that doesn't mean I don't miss you every once and awhile Bulma."

Now Goku was never one for words, nor was he for thinking; but the compassionate sentence he had just so straightforwardly said made Bulma have to hold back a cry.

"I can't tell you how much… how much I'll miss you too Goku-kun."

"What do you mean? What's with the past tense? Are you going somewhere Bulma?"

"You could say that."

"Well how about we get together before your trip! Like old times; just us on one of our adventures together!"

"Goku... Can you come t o d a y...?" She asked innocently, as would a child clinging to its parent.

Noticing how the she had emphasized a certain selection of words; Goku couldn't help but get the sneaky suspicion and intuitive deep-rooted feeling something was wrong.

"Sure thing, Bulma-chan. Stay where you are, I'll be there."

Honesty was something the woman had to give her friend credit for. Because less then a split-second later there he was; already pulling her into a huge hug.

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AN: Good? Bad? Yes? No? A few comments get a new chapter uploaded.

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